


What’s Wrong with Me?

by M_D_Wilson



Category: SSF, Super Science Friends
Genre: Flower Language, Hanahaki Disease, M/M, another sad AU by me who’d have thunk, hanahaki!au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-06-30 14:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19855492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_D_Wilson/pseuds/M_D_Wilson
Summary: Tapputi has seen illnesses long forgotten to the history books, but she never expected to see Nikola Tesla stricken with one of those rare illnesses. Much less stricken with Hanahaki Disease, the unrequited love sickness that killed so easily once it became symptomatic.





	What’s Wrong with Me?

**Author's Note:**

> oh shit waddup it’s anothwr sad AU that was born from the idea that our fandom is missing a lot of the typical trope AUs. It’s now my duty to write as many of those trope AUs as possible, and I made this one the first. Enjoy this prologue to the Fic!! and expect an update to the Seven!AU in a couple days

It happened first in New Jersey, right outside of Menlo Park. The team found themselves in the middle of a heated battle with Edison and Ford once more, where physical attacks and scathing retorts had equal bite on the battlefield. It would’ve been rather easy for one to miss the way Tesla’s face contorted as he locked eyes with Edison, if not for the fact that it was immediately followed by a rather serious coughing fit. Even that could have been written off, given that Edison had managed to land a rather nasty body rip to his stomach.

_Then he was coughing up blood, and it seemed everyone fell silent._

“The hell did you do, Edison?” Ford called, panic flashing across his face as the coughing only worsened. The knife Tapputi had held to his neck had fallen away, surely he should’ve felt less panicked now! Edison didn’t reply, his own eyes narrowing as he took a couple steps back. He didn’t trust this to not be some elaborate, last minute attempt to turn the tide of the fight against him. Tesla wasn’t really one to play dirty, but… It didn’t hurt to be cautious.

Then Tesla was falling to his knees, his entire frame shuddering as something deep inside finally tore loose. For a moment he wondered if he would die in New Jersey, choking on his own blood and whatever it was that had torn free from his lungs. Then he was breathing in air that was far too sweet to be from New Jersey, though the unmistakable tang of metal cut through the haze and reminded him that he had coughed up blood. Blood and…

“Flower petals?” he whispered, clutching weakly at a handful of blood-streaked, white petals. While the others were still frozen, Tapputi moved toward the downed superhero.

“Tesla, I need you to do me a favor,” she began, picking each word carefully as she neared the man. “Look at Edison again,” she commanded. The request was an odd one, to be sure, but the entire scenario was so odd that Tesla’s mind seemed to have switched to autopilot. He looked up at Edison, confusion and fear so openly twisting at his pale skin that Edison felt a twinge of his own fear.

_Then he was coughing up bloody flower petals once more._

“Mother fucker!” Tapputi snapped, turning to glare at Edison. “You,” she hissed, jabbing at the pudgy man’s chest with a gnarled finger. “You are coming with _us_ ,” she stated, her hand suddenly grasping Edison’s arm so tightly that he worried it might break. “Bring the car bastard too!” she called, eyeing the sandy haired man with open distaste. Curie and Darwin were quick to corral the protesting man between them, a low growl from Darwin shutting him up. “Albert, you get Tesla. We have to get him to the infirmary now,” she said, her voice only now softening as she directed the team’s youngest.

He was wide eyed and terrified, hands shaking as he helped Tesla to his feet. To see someone cough up blood in such a violent manner, let alone blood that had somehow managed to be joined by flower petals, was a sight Albert hadn’t been prepared for. He’d expected blood, yeah, but not like this! Not from Tesla, not from their eccentric sorcerer who commanded electricity so easily! Albert was just as much on autopilot as Tesla was, blindly obeying Tapputi’s instructions as he helped Tesla to the Science Mobile.

The silence that filled the crowded vehicle was heavier than anything he had ever known, though Tesla certainly appreciated it. Silence meant he wasn’t expected to speak. Silence meant nobody could ask what had just happened. If nobody asked what happened, then it was very possible that it hadn’t actually happened, right? And if it didn’t happen, he didn’t have to think about how his breath was sweet and metallic, how the taste of iron splashed across his tongue and made him feel as if he might be physically ill. But…

Silence also meant he wasn’t able to know what was wrong. If he didn’t know what was wrong, then he couldn’t fix it. The mere thought of continuing to hack up blood and flower petals from somewhere deep inside of him sickened Tesla more than the taste of said blood and flower petals. He hesitated, finally looking up from the backseat to see the others all staring at him. He cleared his throat, wincing as another wet cough produced more petals.

_“What the hell is wrong with me?”_

  



End file.
